Practice golf club



' Nov.6, 1945. LA. BENECKE 2,388,463

PRACTICE GOLF CLUB Filed Jan. 13, 1945 FIGJ.

! 6 INVENTOR.

(D mum msmmm BYQUMAI ATTORNEY.

Patented Nov. 6, 1945 j UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PRACTICE GOLF CLUBLouis A. Benecke, St. Louis, Mo. Application January 13, 1943, SerialNo. 472,276 4 Claims (01. 273-35) This invention relates topractice golfclubs of the type wherein movable weights are employed to produce shocksand sounds, and more particularly to a novel practice club whereinspecial advantages are derived from a movable weight at the lower endportion of the club.

Prior to this invention, the shafts of practice golf clubs have beenloaded with movable weights designed to move and produce audible soundsand shocks in response to proper strokes of the clubs. These oldtheories arise from a fundamental idea of producing an audible noise toindicate a proper stroke, at the same time displacing an abnormal loadin the club.

However, in actual use of a golf club, objections appear in adisplacement of the weight of any part of the club. Any noiseoccurringduring the stroke of a club is .a very disturbing factor, and if suchnoise is accompanied by a shock due to a hammer blow in the practiceclub, the

novice will be faced with highly disturbing conditions quite remote fromhis normal futureuse of a regular golf club.

In using an ordinary golf club, an expert player will carefully considerdetails involved in the weight at various parts of his club, andassuming that there will be no disturbance of the weight, and no noise,or no shocks at his hands, the expert will carefully prepare for hispredetermined stroke. Any disturbance of the expected weight, or anynoise, orlany shock at the hands of the player, will interfere with hispredetermined stroke.

Bearing in mindthat the object ofany practice golf is to educate thenovice for actual conditions he will find in using a regular golf club,it appears that the old practice clubs involving a deliberatedisturbance in the weight of the club, as well as audible sounds andshocks at the hands of the player, for the purpose of indicating properstrokes, are highly disturbing factors, quite remote from the conditionsin normal use of a golf club. Obviously, practice wherein thesedisturbing conditions are intended to indicate a proper swing of theclub, is extremely remote from conditions to be found in actual use of aregular golf club'.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to produce a practicegolf club which overcomes one or all of these undesirable conditions.

More specifically stated, an object is to overcome objections dueshifting weights, audible sounds, or shocks at the hands of the playerwhen proper swings are made with a practice golf club. Such conditionsdo not teach the user how to make proper strokes in the normal use of aregular golf club, wherein each of said conditions would be anunexpected disturbing factor. In other words, these old practice golfclubs educate the pupil for conditions radically different from theconditions he will find in actual use of regular clubs, and my object isto overcome defects in these old teachings.

Study of this very old problem has led to a development of the presentinvention wherein the improved practice golf club has an educationalvalue deliberately created to immediately prepare the user forconditions he will find in actual use of regular clubs.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, the invention comprisesthe novel construction and arrangement of details herein shown anddescribed to illustrate one form of the invention. However, it is to beunderstood that the scope of the patent extends to variations andmodifications within the scope of the terms employed in claims hereuntoappended.

Fig. 1 is a side view of a practice golf club embodying features of thepresent invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 22 in Fig. 1, drawn to a larger scale,and showing a head slidable on the lower end portion of the shaft.

Fig. 3 is a bottom View of the head and shaft shown in Fig. 2.

To illustrate one form of the invention, I have shown a practice golfclub having a shaft 4 provided with a handle 5 at its upper end, and ahead 6 at its lower end; The head 6 is slidable on the lower end portionof the shaft, and while said head may be of any desired shape, it ispreferably in the form of a ball or roller, free to rotate around theaxis of the shaft 4.

Without limiting the invention to specific details shown in the drawing,I will refer to Figures 2 and 3 wherein the head 6 is in the form of aball having a bore 1 slidably fitted to the shaft t, and a larger bore 8to receive a sleeve 9. This sleeve is slidable on the lower end of shaft4, and it may be secured to the head 6 in any suitable manner. Forexample, connecting screws I0 may be interposed between said sleeve andhead, as shown in Figures 2 and 3.

In this form of the invention, a stop collar H is fixed to the shaft 4,so as to limit displacement of the head 6 relative to the shaft 4. Thecollar II is confined between a stop shoulder I2 at the upper end of thebore 8 and a similar shoulder I3 at the upper end of the sleeve 9. Thisstop collar H is shorter than the distance between the stop shoulders l2and I3, so as to permit limited sliding displacement of the head 6 onthe straight shaft 4 when the practice club is in service. Suchdisplacement will result in audible clicking sounds when the stopshoulders i2 or l3 strike the stop collar ll.

Briefly stated, the head 6 is slidable on the lower end of the shaft 4and free to rotate about the axis of said shaft. The sidin movements maybe due to gravity, or to centrifugal force.

Rotary '=head" for preliminary strokes This formofthe'invention"'includes a head slidable on the lower extremity of theshaft, and free to rotate in contact with the ground during" initialmovements of the clutch. Free rotationla of the head is a desirablecondition, which prevents disturbance in the short backand forthpreliminary strokes usually :madeto determinee the direction of theswing.

The baclcswing As a result of' centrifugal .forceand gravity, theslidablehead"isfmovableflimited' distances-at the extremity ofthe'shaft; andsuchmovements will result "in annoying clicksin'addition'to shocks "at' 25 thefhands of the'usei'; l-I'oWeVerfinthe pref erredform ':of. the invention, a proper 'ba'ckswing' will causethehe'adtoremain at the extremity of the shaft, so there will be no disturbingnoise or shock during"a'proper-backswiifg." On'the other 30,

hand-"lithe bac'liswin'gi's'too'slow,the head will slide toward thehandle, thereby producing" a sound and'a 'shdckto advise furthrpra'cticefor this part of'the'swirig'. It will "be? observed that thesedisturbing conditions donotbccurnuring 35,

a pio eribaekswmg.

The-r downswing The slidable" head lLis preferably 5 designed to remaininits"ext1'emeposition at'the end of the" 40 shaftduring'a properdownswing; thereby avoidin'g any objectionable "noisefor'shock' whenthis part of the swing. is properly made."

The-=follow.-through 4 lt is usnally veryfdifli cult to-teach a personto fOl'IoiN tI'lrQiIgIWWitIF a rapid full swing: The novice-islikelytdassum ethat the stroke should end wherr'tlie'headhits'thballfandone-of the outstanding old problems appear's in teaching him'gtodeliberatelycontinue the movement at a highwelocityk" The new deviceis-preferably de sightedto produce a disturbing click and shockwhen thepupil fails to continue at thevelocity required-for a full swing Thecentrifugal force- 55 of thedesirdvelocity will retain the" shoulder-l2in contact withthecollar'i l', but a lower'velocity will allow the headWtd'drop by gravity until it's""sh0ulder' l3 strikes"th"collar"l I.Again we assties find that the noise and shock are deliberatelyeniployed to advise the pupil of his mistakes. Further practice willinduce him to acquire a follow through velocity great enough to avoid.the disturbing factors, and a swing of this kind, lacking the noise andshock, will conform approximately to the conditions expected in actualuse of a regular golf club.

I claim:

, 1. In. a practice golf club wherein, audible clicks indicate-improperpractice strokes;-a shaft provided With'a handle at bneend; a headfreelylslidable on the opposite end of said shaft, said freely slidablehead being movable toward said handle in' response to an improper upwardswing of the practice golf club, and stop elements carried by'said shaftand slidable head to limit the sliding: movements,-- said stop elementsinclud- 20 2 ing a stop member carried by the head separated fronfbutarranged to strike a stop member on said-shaft so-as-to limit'thesliding -:movement of saidh-hea'dwhenthe -practice club' 'is in:service.

2.:Aq3ractice golf clubhaving-a straight shaft pnovided withva handleatone'end, a head rotatablearound-.thempposite end ,of said straightshaft, said rotatabie headbeing in-the form of a bali'freely slidableionthewshaft and movable toward itheahandle; in response, to an.improperup-v warduswing ofi themractice; golf club, and sepsis.ratedzstop l-elements carried by. said shaft and head to: limit thelsliding; movements.

3. -A practice, golf; club having a straight shaft provided with -ahandle-at; oneend, a 'head' slidable on the opposite end of saidshaft,andstop. elementsi-carriedaby' said head, ,to' limit its slidingmovements; msaid 'ist'op elements being located withih the heady and 1the 1 shaft being provided with-a stop-eollarlooatedibetween and adaptedto audiblyrengagasaid' stop lelements, said I stop collar beingnshortenlthan =the distance between said stopt elements'. s0 ias-a to permitlimited sliding displacement: of itheuheaddwhen ethe xClllb is inservice. .i

4.' An educationalsgolf':club:havingia shaftprovided with a handleataonenendp and: a 7 pair of stop elein'entsl fixed its :oppositenendportiony;

saidifixed' stop flelementsarbeings separatedw from:

each othe'mima directioimcparaliel i-With :the naxis 1 I of"=sai'dshaft; addo's'e. signallingddevice confinedbysaid fixed'stopelementsgzsaidiiooselyleonfinedsignalling de'vice having zan axisiapproximately', parallel witli' 'said-shalft' and bein'g rfreelymovable;in response to the influence of centrifugalforces: and gravity from 'onepf said iixed' stop :elements to -the otheia soas td produceanlaudibleisignali in response td animproper upwardzswingyofathe;educational-=clubl LOU-ISTIAJEBENECKEJ;

